Friday, April 14, 2017

Mosul Campaign Day 179, Apr 13, 2017

Dots represent destroyed sites in Mosul observed by the UN.
Different colors represent different types of structures such as red for
commercial, yellow for housing. (UN Human Settlements Program)

The big news of the day on the military front was that the 9th
Division and Hashd almost reached west Mosul. They took
five towns
just on the outskirts of the city. These forces have been caught up clearing
the Badush district to the west for the last two months, cutting off escape
routes for the Islamic State. It is assumed that they will eventually assault
the city itself and open a new front in the northwest.

Inside the city the Golden Division continued to make steady
advances, while the police were still caught in the Old City section. Abar and
Tanak were declared
freed by the Golden Division in the center of the city. The latter might be
premature as earlier in the day it was reported
that only a few streets had been taken in the neighborhood. The Federal Police
and Rapid Reaction Division moved
into Musherifa and Bab Jadid, the latter of which had been called liberated
twice before. The Islamic State also counter attacked, and
took several hours to repel. The Golden Division have been able to seize a good
section of central west Mosul in the last few weeks, while the police have made
no real progress in the Old City and appear to be at a halt despite recent
reports that they were moving again.

The U.S. Coalition continued to praise the work of the Iraqi
forces (ISF), but noted their difficulties. Colonel John Dorrian told the press
that currently the advance in Mosul is “very, very slow.” He blamed tough
defenses by the insurgents, and their use of human shields. The Iraq Joint
Operations Command announced
that 60% of the city was now in government hands. Two days before it said
that 90% of Mosul was under control, an obvious exaggeration, that
unfortunately is all to common from Iraqi sources.

Al
Mada had an article on the ISF’s approach towards the Old City. The police
got caught up in the district leading to a change in strategy. The frontal
attack was abandoned, and the Golden Division moved up into the center of the
city to try to encircle it. Now there are questions of whether that unit will
even attack the Old City or leave it all to the police. The problems have
continued however. Currently the Federal Police are use heavy shelling to try
to stop the Islamic State from moving around in the area to pin them down.
Given the fact that the insurgents have tunnels and holes in walls to allow
them to move from house to house this strategy is probably not only
ineffective, but causing a large amount of civilian casualties.

In order to avoid the human toll the police have been trying
to get as many people out of the Old City as possible. They have created up
corridors where civilians can escape. The Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights
released a statement that these routes are far from safe however. The Islamic
State regularly fires upon any people they see attempting to flee. One route
set up by the ISF saw 25 people killed in the first ten days of April. While
many people would like to avoid the frontline the environment is highly
dangerous, and only so many can get out as a result.

The Old City is one of two sections of west Mosul IS
fighters are concentrated
in. The other is right next door consisting of the 17th July,
Musharafieh, and Harmat neighborhoods. The militants are preparing for a fight
to the death in these areas. It has been torturing and killing people, and then
hanging their bodies from electricity poles to intimidate the population. It is
also dumping bodies in streets to try to stop people from fleeing. That
accounts for the recent stories of increased executions going on.

The United Nations has been tracking the damage to Mosul
caused by the fighting using satellite imagery. A recent study
found that west Mosul was facing extensive destruction, far more than occurred
in the east. A survey found 58% of housing damaged. Overall, war damage
in the west was 2 ½ times greater than the east. There has been a lot of
anecdotal evidence of the impact the battle has had on the city. This was the
first hard data available to quantify that.

Types Of Structures
Damaged in Mosul, U.N. Report

58% of housing

19% of roads and bridges

13% of commercial/industrial areas

5% of government offices

4% of public facilities

1% of entertainment sites

Liberated east Mosul shows the resilience of its people, and
the huge problems that lay ahead. The U.N. visited
five schools. They were full of students with more parents wanting to register
their children. The teachers were enthusiastic about being back in class. The
surrounding neighborhoods were also alive with lots of people being out and
about and markets and shops open. People were sweeping
up and trying to fill holes in the streets. On the other hand, none of the
schools had any textbooks, many had no windows, and none of the teachers were
being paid. There are no services in the eastern section either. People have to
rely upon generators for power and aid groups are trucking in over 2 million
liters of bottled water per day. The lack of safe drinking water is leading to
a wave of diarrhea spreading. The government has asked public workers to return
to their jobs, but they have to go through a vetting process to get paid.
Overall, there is no real rebuilding going on. A parliamentarian from Ninewa
said that corruption and incompetence were to blame, while the assistant to the
governor said the administration was simply overwhelmed by the situation. The
latter noted that the province has no money for reconstruction. This is an
issue throughout Ninewa and Iraq in general where there are dozens of towns and
cities attempting to pull themselves out of the war, but are not receiving much
help as low oil prices and the cost of fighting the Islamic State has taken up
most of the government’s funds.

One of the only countries providing aid to Mosul and Ninewa
is Kuwait. It
has opened five schools in Kurdistan for displaced children, and three health
centers as well. It is also one of the few providing direct assistance into the
city. When the war with IS started Prime Minister Haidar Abadi called on the
regional governments to help, especially with reconstruction since the vast
majority of the fighting was in Sunni regions of the country. Most of the
surrounding countries did nothing, but Kuwait was one of the few that stepped
up.

Aid groups are trying to introduce counseling
to the wounded and displaced from the Mosul battle. Handicap International is
working in western Ninewa helping out the wounded and displaced. Reuters talked
with a teenager who had his leg amputated due to a wound he received, which the
group was attempting to help through this traumatic experience. They have been
other stories of how many of the children that lived through the IS occupation
and are now witnessing all the fighting have been effected psychologically as
well. Unfortunately there is not enough assistance available for all of these
people.

The rate of displacement is still exceeding the returns in
Ninewa. The International Organization for Migration counted
327,432 displaced officially in Ninewa compared to 97,128 that had returned.
The real figures are higher since many people never register with the
authorities. The number of IDPs increased by 112,290 from March 9 to April 9.
Because of the intense fighting far more people are coming out of west Mosul
than happened during the battle for the east. At the same time there are always
people trying to go back. Both fluctuate due to the ebbs and flow of the
conflict.

SOURCES

Baghdad Post, "Iraqi Forces control western entrance of
Mosul's right bank," 4/13/17

IRAQ HISTORY TIMELINE

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About Me

Musings On Iraq was started in 2008 to explain the political, economic, security and cultural situation in Iraq via original articles and interviews. I have written for the Jamestown Foundation, Tom Ricks’ Best Defense at Foreign Policy and the Daily Beast, and was responsible for a chapter in the book Volatile Landscape: Iraq And Its Insurgent Movements. My work has been published in Iraq via NRT, AK News, Al-Mada, Sotaliraq, All Iraq News, and Ur News all in Iraq. I was interviewed on BBC Radio 5, Radio Sputnik, CCTV and TRT World News TV, and have appeared in CNN, the Christian Science Monitor, The National, Columbia Journalism Review, Mother Jones, PBS’ Frontline, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Institute for the Study of War, Radio Free Iraq, Rudaw, and others. I have also been cited in Iraq From war To A New Authoritarianism by Toby Dodge, Imagining the Nation Nationalism, Sectarianism and Socio-Political Conflict in Iraq by Harith al-Qarawee, ISIS Inside the Army of Terror by Michael Weiss and Hassan Hassahn, The Rise of the Islamic State by Patrick Cocburn, and others. If you wish to contact me personally my email is: motown67@aol.com